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Description

Watermark:

Rosa chinensis and denomination 10.

Avers:

The engraving on banknote was made after this common photo of Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and working youngsters by Chen Shi Lin - former technical director of the Chinese news agency "Xinhua".

Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, poet, political theorist and founding father of the People's Republic of China, which he governed as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949, until his death in 1976. His Marxist–Leninist theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

Born the son of a wealthy farmer in Shaoshan, Hunan, Mao adopted a Chinese nationalist and anti-imperialist outlook in early life, particularly influenced by the events of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and May Fourth Movement of 1919. Mao adopted Marxism–Leninism while working at Peking University and became a founding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), leading the Autumn Harvest Uprising in 1927. During the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and the CPC, Mao helped to found the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, led the Jiangxi Soviet's radical land policies and ultimately became head of the CPC during the Long March. Although the CPC temporarily allied with the KMT under the United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), after Japan's defeat China's civil war resumed and in 1949 Mao's forces defeated the Nationalists who withdrew to Taiwan.

On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), a one-party state controlled by the CPC. In the following years Mao solidified his control through a campaign of classicide against landlords, and a mass purge of perceived enemies of the state he termed as "counter-revolutionaries" alleged to have caused between 2,000,000 to 6,000,000 deaths. (Mao himself admitting 800,000 deaths in the classicide and 712,000 in the suppression of Counterrevolutionaries) In 1957, he launched the Great Leap Forward campaign that aimed to rapidly transform China's economy from an agrarian economy to an industrial one. The campaign contributed to a widespread famine, whose death toll is estimated at between 15,000,000 and 55,000,000. In 1966, he initiated the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, a program to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements of Chinese society that lasted 10 years and which was marked by violent class struggle that killed 400,000 to 10,000,000 people, widespread destruction of cultural artifacts and unprecedented elevation of Mao's personality cult. In 1972, Mao welcomed American President Richard Nixon in Beijing, signalling a policy of opening China, which was furthered under the rule of Deng Xiaoping (1978–1992). Mao suffered a series of heart attacks in 1976, and died in September, aged 82. He was succeeded as Paramount leader by Hua Guofeng (1976–1978), who was quickly sidelined and replaced by Deng.

A controversial figure, Mao is regarded as one of the most important individuals in modern world history, and is also known as a theorist, military strategist, poet and visionary. Supporters credit him with driving imperialism out of China, modernizing China and building it into a world power, promoting the status of women, improving education and health care, and increasing life expectancy as China's population grew from around 550 million to over 900 million under his leadership. In contrast, critics consider him a dictator comparable to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin who damaged traditional Chinese culture, as well as considering him a perpetrator of human rights abuses, and they estimate that Mao was responsible for 40 to 70 million deaths through starvation, prison labour and executions, which would rank his tenure as the top incidence of excess mortality in human history.

Top left is the coat of arms of China is in top left corner.

The national emblem of the People's Republic of China contains in a red circle a representation of Tiananmen Gate, the entrance gate to the Forbidden City, where Mao declared the foundation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Above this representation are the five stars found on the national flag. The largest star represents the Communist Party of China, while the four smaller stars represent the four social classes as defined in Maoism. The outer border of the red circle shows sheaves of wheat and the inner sheaves of rice, which together represent agricultural workers. At the center of the lower portion of the border is a cog-wheel that represents industrial workers.

Under denomination is the Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis).

Rosa chinensis (Chinese: 月季, pinyin: yuèjì), known commonly as the China rose or Chinese rose, is a member of the genus Rosa native to Southwest China in Guizhou, Hubei, and Sichuan Provinces. The species is extensively cultivated as an ornamental plant, originally in China, and numerous cultivars have been selected which are known as the China roses. It has also been extensively interbred with Rosa gigantea to produce Rosa × odorata and by further hybridization the tea roses and hybrid tea roses.

It is a shrub growing to 1–2 m. tall. The leaves are pinnate, have 3–5 leaflets, each leaflet 2.5–6 cm long and 1–3 cm. broad. In the wild species (sometimes listed as Rosa chinensis var. spontanea), the flowers have five pink to red petals. The fruit is a red hip 1–2 cm. diameter.

Denominations in numerals are in top right corner and centered. Also centered in words.

Revers:

The Three Gorges (Chinese: 三峡; pinyin: About this sound Sānxiá) are three adjacent gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the People's Republic of China. They're known for their scenery, and the "Three Gorges Scenic Area" is classified as the AAAAA scenic area (the highest level) by the China National Tourism Administration.

The Three Gorges are located in the mainstream of the Yangtze River. They start from the Baidi City of Chongqing Municipality in the west of the People's Republic of China and ends at Nanjing Pass of Yichang City of Hubei Province in the east, stretching over 193 miles. The Three Gorges consist of the Qutang Gorge, the Wu Gorge, and the Xiling Gorge. Located in the hinterland of China, they're of the subtropical monsoon climate and pass through Fengjie and the Wu Mountains of Chongqing, as well as Badong, Zigui, and Yichang of Hubei Province.

The Three Gorges span from the western-upriver cities of Fengjie and Yichang in Chongqing Municipality eastward—downstream to Hubei province. The Three Gorges region attracts global attention due to the Three Gorges Dam, which is firmly changing the culture and environment of the river and Three Gorges region.

The region has a total length of approximately 200 kilometers, while the Three Gorges occupy approximately 120 kilometers within this region. Although it is primarily famous for its scenery, the Three Gorges region is also historically and culturally important in China, many settlements and archaeological sites are under submersion from the rising Three Gorges Dam.

Right of center is the year of issue.

Each note has the words "People's Bank of China" as well as the denomination in the Uyghur, Tibetan and Mongolian (but no Zhuang since Zhuang alphabet was not invented yet) languages on the back, which has since appeared in each series of Renminbi notes.